Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia has reportedly decided to suspend peace talks with Israel and the United States, Bloomberg and Reuters quoted sources as saying.
Although the talks have not been terminated, they are temporarily frozen until the violence in the region subsides, reports said. This decision comes as Israel has declared war in response to Hamas’ attack, which resulted in the death and injury of thousands of civilians and the abduction of more than a hundred people.
The crown prince also engaged in a conversation with Iran’s president this week. This move signals a departure from the Biden administration’s efforts to isolate Iran, a nation that supports Hamas. The US had been deeply invested in the Saudi Arabia-Israel talks, viewing an agreement between the two countries as a significant step toward Israel’s regional acceptance and a setback for Iran’s regional ambitions. Part of the proposal included a potential US-Saudi defense pact, a long-standing goal for Saudi Arabia.
Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon with ties to Iran, expressed support for Hamas’ attack, stressing the importance of addressing the Palestinian issue and not sidelining it while establishing diplomatic ties with Israel. Over the past three years, four countries in the region have normalized relations with Israel.
While the US National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, did not confirm the suspension of the talks, he stressed that the United States remains committed to facilitating regional peace. “We have every intention of staying at the task of trying to pursue an Israel that is more integrated into the region, a more cooperative region, and we still believe in the promise of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and we have no intention of not continuing to pursue that,” Kirby said in a phone call with members of press.
“But obviously, these are sovereign nations, they get to decide for themselves at what pace they’re willing to move, under what conditions and certainly the degree to which they want to continue that effort,” he added. “If they continue the effort, if that’s where they, too, want to go, they will find no better friend than the United States in pursuit of that.”